50 free Black Sports Trivia: Black Athletes Who Made History trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Black athletes have broken every colour line in sport, usually years before the rest of society caught up. This Black sports trivia quiz covers the pioneers and the record-breakers: Jack Johnson and Joe Louis, Jesse Owens in Berlin, Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby, Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe, Wilma Rudolph, Bill Russell as the NBA's first Black head coach, Fritz Pollard, Kenny Washington, Marlin Briscoe and Doug Williams in football, Willie O'Ree in hockey, Wendell Scott in NASCAR, Charlie Sifford and Tiger Woods in golf, and Vonetta Flowers, the first Black athlete to win Winter Olympic gold. It also covers the modern greats and the milestones behind their names: Muhammad Ali, Hank Aaron, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Serena and Venus Williams, Usain Bolt, Flo-Jo, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Sheryl Swoopes, Naomi Osaka, Lewis Hamilton, Bubba Wallace, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, and Colin Kaepernick. Forty-five questions run from easy for casual fans to expert for sports historians, and every one is a specific fact rather than a vague 'first'. Every answer is checked against documented records rather than listicles, so it works for a Black History Month quiz, a classroom or a sports bar round.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On what date did Jackie Robinson break MLB's colour line by starting for the Dodgers?
April 15, 1947
MLB now retires his number 42 league-wide and marks the date as Jackie Robinson Day.
Q 02Which award did Jackie Robinson win in its inaugural season, 1947?
Rookie of the Year
He won the NL MVP two years later, the first Black player so honoured.
Q 03Who was the American League's first Black player, debuting for Cleveland eleven weeks after Robinson?
Larry Doby
He and Robinson spoke by phone through that first season, agreeing not to give anyone an excuse to send them down.
Q 04Who founded the Negro National League in 1920?
Rube Foster
He also founded and managed the Chicago American Giants and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1981.
Q 05Who became MLB's first Black manager in 1975?
Frank Robinson
He was player-manager of the Cleveland Indians and homered in his first game in charge.
Q 06Hank Aaron and which teammate hit a record 863 home runs as a pair?
Eddie Mathews
Aaron played 21 seasons for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves.
Q 07Who was the first Black world heavyweight boxing champion, reigning from 1908 to 1915?
Jack Johnson
His 1910 win over James J. Jeffries triggered race riots across the United States.
Q 08How many consecutive title defences did Joe Louis make, a record for any weight class?
25
He held the heavyweight title from 1937 until 1949, the longest single reign in the division's history.
Q 09Under what name did Muhammad Ali win light-heavyweight gold at the 1960 Rome Olympics?
Cassius Clay
He turned professional later that year and joined the Nation of Islam in the early 1960s.
Q 10Ali's 'Rumble in the Jungle' was fought against which opponent?
George Foreman
The Thrilla in Manila and the Fight of the Century were both against Joe Frazier.
Q 11Sugar Ray Robinson, often called the greatest boxer pound for pound, was born with what name?
Walker Smith Jr.
He fought from 1940 to 1965 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.
Q 12Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in which city?
Berlin
He took the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100 relay in front of Hitler's regime.
Q 13Wilma Rudolph overcame which childhood illness before winning three golds at the 1960 Rome Olympics?
Polio
She became the first American woman to win three golds at a single Games.
Q 21Venus Williams won five of her seven major singles titles at which tournament?
Wimbledon
She also took singles gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Q 22Naomi Osaka became the first player from which continent to hold the world number one singles ranking?
Asia
Her four majors are split evenly between the Australian Open and the US Open.
Q 23Tiger Woods won his first major, the 1997 Masters, by how many strokes?
12
He was world number one within a year of turning pro.
Q 24Which six-time National Negro Open champion joined the PGA Tour and won the 1967 Greater Hartford Open?
Q 14Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised black-gloved fists on the podium at which Olympics?
Mexico City 1968
Smith had just become the first man to officially break 20 seconds in the 200m.
Q 15Florence Griffith Joyner's 100m world mark of 10.49, set in 1988, had what status in 2025?
It still stands
The wind gauge read 0.0 on a windy day, which has fuelled debate ever since.
Q 16Jackie Joyner-Kersee has held the world record in which event since 1988?
Heptathlon
She won six Olympic medals across four Games in the heptathlon and long jump.
Q 17What is Usain Bolt's 100m world record time?
9.58 seconds
He set it in 2009, the biggest improvement since electronic timing began.
Q 18Who was the first Black player to win a Grand Slam tennis title, taking the 1956 French Open?
Althea Gibson
She won Wimbledon and the US Nationals in both 1957 and 1958.
Q 19Arthur Ashe is the only Black man to win singles titles at which three majors?
Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open
He was also the first Black player picked for the US Davis Cup team.
Q 20How many major singles titles did Serena Williams win?
23
That is the most in the Open Era; she was world number one for 319 weeks.
Charlie Sifford
Tiger Woods said that without him, 'I probably wouldn't be here'.
Q 25Who became the NBA's first Black head coach in 1966?
Bill Russell
He was player-coach of the Celtics and won two more titles in the role.
Q 26Who was the first African American to play in an NBA game, on October 31, 1950?
Earl Lloyd
Chuck Cooper was the first drafted and Sweetwater Clifton the first to sign a contract, but Lloyd played first.
Q 27Which team drafted Chuck Cooper in 1950, making him the first African American drafted into the NBA?
Boston Celtics
Owner Walter Brown took him 13th overall; he had been playing for the Harlem Globetrotters.
Q 28Texas Western's 1966 NCAA title was historic because the Miners did what?
Started five Black players in the final
They beat an all-white Kentucky team 72-65 in College Park, Maryland.
Q 29Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won how many NBA MVP awards, a record?
Six
He was born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. and played 20 seasons for the Bucks and Lakers.
Q 30Who was the first player signed by the WNBA?
Sheryl Swoopes
She went on to win three WNBA MVPs and three Olympic golds.